


Whumptober 2019 - Harry Potter

by HeartOfStars



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marauders - Fandom
Genre: Bleeding, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge is Her Own Warning, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Injury, James Potter Being an Idiot, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Resolved Sexual Tension, Sirius Being A Good Godfather, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Being Ridiculous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-28 10:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20964953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfStars/pseuds/HeartOfStars
Summary: Whumptober prompts for 2019 featuring Harry Potter characters, mostly the Marauders.Day 3: Delirium--James and Sirius recover from a crazy night. Remus is not amused.Day 13: Adrenaline--Sirius comforts James following a traumatic event.Day 24: Secret Injury--During OOTP, Sirius finds out about Umbridge's punishment.Day 31: Embrace--James and Lily have their first kiss...and three unwanted guests are watching.





	1. Day 3: Delirium

**Author's Note:**

> Never written the boys before, hope they sound right. I tried writing them to sound like J.K. Rowling's writing style, so that's a thing.  
Day 3: Delirium. Takes place in the Marauders' sixth year at Hogwarts.

  
The first thing James was aware of, his entire torso felt like it was on fire.

He opened his eyes, just a crack--blinding rays of sunshine fell on him, and he closed them with a groan. Then, slowly, he felt other things: burning eyes and head(and nose), a dull ache in his legs, and an absolutely awful ache in his back that made him want to fall asleep again.

And yet, at the same time, he felt spectacular. Wonderful, like he was floating on clouds. Once again, he opened his eyes. This time he could do it, and what’s more, he thought, was that everything looked so surreal...delicate rays of light, descending from the sky right onto his face....

“Oy,” said a voice to his right. Blinking, James opened his eyes--there was Sirius, looking just as awful as he felt. “Bloody--bloody bones, mate.”

“Yugh,” said James. “What happened? I feel…” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“So do I,” said Sirius, although James had never said just what he felt. “Where are we?”

“In our dormitory, you absolute idiots.”

It took what felt like several minutes for James to realize who had spoken(in reality it was only a few seconds). At the same time, Sirius let out a low exclamation.

“Oh,” he said.

“Oh,” echoed James.

“Morning, Moony,” they said together.

As James looked up--with a great effort--he noticed that Remus seemed to be quite furious. He couldn’t understand why. They’d had so much fun, hadn’t they? Especially when they...when they...well, they’d done something. It was just too much effort to think of it at the moment.

“And good morning to you,” said Remus, sounding oddly sarcastic. “Surprised you’re even _awake_ after last night. Peter’s still asleep, so don’t even think about causing a ruckus.”

“Kingsley,” said Sirius. “Where’s Kingsley?”

“In class,” said Remus. “Which is where you two _should_ be in about fifteen minutes--”

James’ stomach rebelled before Remus could even finish. Only half understanding what was going on, he rolled over and retched onto the floor. Several seconds later, he heard Sirius doing the same.

“Bloody bones,” said Sirius again. “What did...what did we do?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Quickly, Remus vanished the messes James and Sirius had made on the floor. “You only drank two bottles of _Muggle_ beer, promptly turned into Animagi, wandered into the Forbidden Forest--_drunk,_ mind you--and attacked the centaurs before I showed up to turn you back into yourselves!”

As if to emphasize Remus’ point, Sirius turned sideways and vomited again.

“So,” said Remus, grabbing his bag from where it sat at the end of his bed, “have a good morning.”

And, with a huff, he disappeared.

Several minutes passed, in which James stared dreamily up at the sun.

“Wait,” said Sirius suddenly. “Where’d he go?”

“I dunno.” James tried to look at his friend, but as it was impossible to turn his head, he settled for speaking a little louder. “D’you...d’you think he went...to class?”

“Dunno. Maybe.”

Several more seconds passed, and then Sirius spoke again.

“I don’t want to go to class.”

“Me neither,” said James. “We’ll be fine, McGonagall will just make us write lines or something.”

“She’s an Animagus, she’d understand.”

James nodded, trying not to vomit again.

A sudden groan echoed from Peter’s bed, he must be waking up. Had he been there last night? James couldn’t remember--he vaguely recalled something small sitting on him, but that could’ve been the wind.

“Ugh,” said Peter. “What...what happened last night?” His voice sounded shaky, but James couldn’t see himself moving at the moment.

He and Sirius looked at each other, for the first time. Sirius looked almost green in the face--hopefully he didn’t look that terrible. Lily would never go out with him if he had a green face. Green was the Slytherin color, and she and Snivellus weren’t on fantastic terms these days.

There was a thought, briefly, that he might be a bit loopy at the moment.

He and Sirius looked at each other, curiously, for one more moment. Then they turned back to Peter.

“Don’t ask us,” they said in unison.


	2. Day 13: Adrenaline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 13: Adrenaline.  
This takes place at the end of one of the later books of my Marauders series, but I’ll try to give as few spoilers as possible. All you need to know is that James just experienced a traumatic event, and this is the aftermath.

_ The Headmaster is next. _

The words echoed, again and again and again. James’ head was spinning, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think--all he knew was he had to get to Dumbledore, had to tell him, before it was too late...

Someone grabbed him suddenly, pushed him back. 

“Hey!” he yelled, fighting whoever it was who had grabbed him--had to be a Death Eater, or something-- “Hey! Let go!”

“James--oy! James, stop it!” 

Sirius, James realized suddenly. That was Sirius’ voice.

“Sirius,” he gasped. “Sirius, what--” Everything was still blurry. “Where--I can’t see--”

“Oh, right. Here.” Sirius handed James his glasses, and suddenly James could see Sirius’ concerned face, right in front of his--but the pain in his head didn’t go away. “Everything’s all right, don’t worry about Dumbledore. It’s you we’re worried about.”

We? They weren’t alone, James realized--Remus and Peter were there, as well as half the professors, and Kingsley, and Mary McDonald, and even...even Lily. And Dumbledore himself. Suddenly he felt exhausted, completely worn out...his legs shook, and he grabbed onto Sirius’ arm to keep himself standing.

“Right, right,” said Sirius quickly, “sorry, mate. Let’s go...sit down. Over there.”

As if he couldn’t see everyone else standing there, just  _ looking  _ at them, Sirius led James over to a large chair and helped him sit down. 

“There,” he said, taking a seat next to him. “You all right?”

“No,” said James frankly. He’d thought about lying for a second, but everyone could see he wasn’t all right, couldn’t they? It’d be pointless. “I...I...Sirius, I can’t believe it.” James groaned, bringing his hands to his head. “Bloody bones.”

Sirius stared straight ahead for several more seconds, clearly thinking about what they’d just both seen; then he shook his head and brought an arm up around James’ shoulders. 

“Me neither,” he said. “I told them to get you some water. I…” He swallowed. “I asked if they’d make you forget it. Completely wipe your memory, like they do to Muggles. But Dumbledore said no…”

“Good,” James said. 

Sirius looked at him in shock. “No? Why the bloody hell’d you--”

“Because I don’t want to forget it,” said James. “As awful and shocking as it is, Sirius, you don’t want to forget it either. We were the only ones who saw it happen, and we  _ need  _ to remember it, every day, for the rest of our lives.”

“But you’re in pain,” Sirius argued, “more than I am...I mean, with all they put you through…”

“No,” said James, surprised at the firmness in his own voice. “It’s painful, yeah. But, Sirius...listen to me.” Sirius looked at him, doubt still in his eyes. “It’s painful, but it’s our only chance at stopping Voldemort.”

Sirius nodded, slowly. 

“Dunno why he’d pick a name like  _ Voldemort,” _ he muttered at last. “Apparently his name used to be Tom something. Voldemort’s stupid, it’s like mashing all the worst letters together…”

James laughed suddenly. It was more of a nervous laugh than anything, but it helped...and the pain in his head seemed a little less, anyway. 

Sirius frowned. “What?”

“Just...just you,” James said awkwardly. “You being around makes all this only half bad.”

Sirius gave him a small smile. "You know...I feel the same way about you."  



	3. Day 24: Secret Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During OOTP, Sirius finds out about Harry's Umbridge-inflicted punishment.

It seemed as though the awful situation was gradually beginning to settle down. According to Mrs. Weasley, Arthur was improving quickly and would be home within the day, as long as he didn’t “gamble with Muggle torture techniques,” as she referred to the stitches he’d been trying to implement. 

Around noon, she left with the Weasley twins to go and check on him, just as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were finishing up their game of wizard chess.

“Another game?” suggested Hermione, but Harry shook his head. 

“I think I’ll pass,” he said, getting up. “I’m going to see if there’s any food left from lunch.” 

Ron shrugged. “All right, mate, suit yourself.”

Harry wasn’t really hungry, he just knew that Sirius was alone in the kitchen with Kreacher, and he didn’t want to leave him alone. He could hear them as he walked down the stairs, arguing over something--probably some old artifact Kreacher wanted to keep, he thought, or something similar. 

“--don’t know where you go, but I called for you the night Mr. Weasley was in the hospital,” Sirius was saying angrily--so it was about Kreacher’s suspicious absences, then. “We needed dinner. Where were you?”

“Kreacher is always ready to serve the Noble House of Black,” Kreacher said in that wheedling way of his. Harry shook his head, disgusted. “But Kreacher has other business to attend to, private business. Kreacher was not gone long.”

“Yet you still haven’t told me _ where--” _Sirius looked up then, noticing Harry at the door to the kitchen, and turned away from Kreacher, looking slightly embarrassed. “Ah, Harry! You’re hungry, of course, come in.” 

Muttering to himself, Kreacher scuffled away. _ Good riddance, _thought Harry sourly. 

Sirius reached into the pantry, pulling out dishes from lunch--there was some porridge and lamb soup, and a delicacy Harry couldn’t put a name to. 

“Here, what would you like?” Sirius asked him. 

“Er…” Harry frowned. He figured he’d better eat something, at least, as long as he was here; he didn’t want to explain to Sirius why he’d come downstairs to begin with. “I’ll have some stew, thanks--don’t worry, I’ll do it.” 

Sirius handed him a bowl, and he began ladling the soup into it. 

“How was your night?” he asked after about a minute of silence. 

“Lots better, thanks,” Harry said with a grin. Ever since his conversation with Ginny, he’d felt much better about what had happened to Arthur, knowing it _ hadn’t _been him. Now he’d actually begun to enjoy his holiday…

A sudden pang from his right hand interrupted his thoughts, and Harry dropped the ladle. It was Umbridge’s punishment, he realized, massaging his hand. It hadn’t hurt him in weeks--this was a surprise. After several seconds, the pain went away. 

“What is it?” Sirius asked, moving to Harry’s side. 

“Nothing,” Harry said quickly; Sirius had to stay here. He couldn’t let him get worried about anything more, or he might go charging off to Hogwarts to kill Umbridge. Quickly, he racked his brain to think up an excuse. “It’s--it’s just my wand hand, I’ve had to practice spells more than usual this year.”

Harry winced. That was a lame excuse.

“Spells shouldn’t do that,” said Sirius. “Here, let me see your hand--”

“No!” said Harry, more vehemently than he’d meant to. He reddened. “Er, sorry--”

Sirius didn’t look upset, though--he looked concerned, as he studied Harry curiously. “Harry, are you keeping something from me?”

“No,” Harry said quickly. “Honestly, Sirius, it just ached for a few seconds, it’s nothing. I’m going to finish with the soup--”

“Forget the soup,” said Sirius quietly. “I want to see your hand.”

Harry swallowed--that tone was not something to be argued with. With a sigh, he pulled back his sleeve and let Sirius examine his hand. 

Sirius looked closely, moving his fingers over the raised lines that Harry had almost forgotten. “Hmm. I must...not...tell lies…” He let out a gasp. “Harry, this is torture. Who did this to you?”

“Well--Sirius, I don’t want you to--”

“Harry, I swear I’m not going to do anything about it, but I want you...no. I _ need _you to tell me who did this because it. Is. Illegal!”

Harry sighed. “Dolores Umbridge.”

Sirius’ expression went cold, and Harry looked at him nervously...Sirius looked as though he wanted to kill somebody. Of course, Sirius killing Umbridge wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world--in fact, Harry’d pay good money to see it--but in the circumstances…

“Dolores Umbridge,” Sirius said at last. “That awful woman..._ she _did this? Of course, she’d do anything no matter how illegal it was, as long as she could get something out of it...but why?”

“Well, I…” Harry clenched his fists, trying not to get angry again, which happened every time he thought about Umbridge. “It was the first day of class, she was telling us Voldemort _ wasn’t _back, that everything Cedric did was for nothing--”

“So she told you not to tell lies.” Sirius shook his head. “That woman deserves Azkaban, she really does.” 

“We all think that, too, you’re not alone--”

“And this is why you started that group,” Sirius seemed to realize out loud. “The...Army of Dumbledore, or something like that?”

“Dumbledore’s Army,” Harry corrected him, surprised that Sirius wasn’t acting more angry. “But, yeah.” He frowned. “So...so you’re not going to--”

“Burst into Hogwarts? Throw spells at Umbridge until she either explodes or runs from the castle screaming?” Sirius clutched the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles turned white; he really was angry, Harry realized, he just wasn’t showing it. “That’s certainly what I’d _ like _to do--and that’s why you didn’t tell me, isn’t it?”

Harry nodded slowly. 

“Of course that’s what I’d like to do. But it would get me locked up in Azkaban, and I learned years ago that it’s really quite impossible to be a godfather from Azkaban.” Sirius reached out and patted Harry’s shoulder firmly. 

Harry grinned, feeling actually good for the first time in days. “Guess you’re right.” He sighed. “I just wish there was more I could do against Umbridge, more than this club--but I can’t say anything, none of us can say anything--”

“You mean she’s done _ that _to other--”

“I was the first one,” Harry said. “But yeah. Dean Thomas has had it done twice, Seamus once--”

For a moment, Sirius looked like he was about to rescind everything he’d just told Harry, but then he sighed. “Harry, I know how you feel...about not being able to do more. I think everyone feels a little like that, but not as much as me; I’m stuck here, you know.”

Harry nodded. “I know, and I wish you could do something too.”

“Well, a wise person once told me this,” said Sirius, looking Harry in the eye. “When you’re trying to do something and you think no one’s listening, take a step back and look at all the people standing with you. Then try again, but this time be a little more discreet.”

Harry smiled. “Did Dumbledore say that?”

“No.” Sirius squeezed Harry’s shoulder a little tighter. “Your dad did." 

Harry couldn’t find anything to say to that, he could only stare at Sirius, who, he realized, had tears in his eyes. 

“I wish my dad hadn’t died,” he said. And he knew it was obvious, and he knew he’d said it before, but he still had to say it. 

“So do I, Harry.” Sirius pulled him into a quick hug, and Harry wondered if his godfather was imagining hugging his dad. “But at least I’ve got you--and for right now, that’s enough.” 


	4. Day 31: Embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Lily experience their first kiss, but unbeknownst to them, the other three Marauders are watching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so as CassiaBaneberry reminded me, today is the anniversary of James and Lily's deaths. But we're going to pretend like it doesn't happen, so instead have a prompt that is pure comedy.

“James Fleamont Potter, that was the _ stupidest _ thing I have _ ever _seen anyone do in my ENTIRE life!”

In hindsight, thought James as Lily Evans shouted and raged and waved her wand in his face, transfiguring his owl into a desk chair to hurl at Bellatrix Lestrange, running for cover, transforming into a stag (alongside a dog and a rat) and tripping up two more Death Eaters, changing back into a human (while the dog and rat attacked Lucius Malfoy) to seize the “desk chair,” sprint away carrying it over his head while screaming at the top of his lungs and dodging spells left and right, dive over a rock, and transform it back into his owl, who then carried the message he’d snuck away from Bellatrix to Dumbledore, was not the smartest plan of his career thus far. 

Still, she was making too big of a fuss over it. 

“Lily, come on,” he said, wincing as the dozens of cuts on his face were pulled at. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“That’s not the _ point, _James!” 

Sparks shot dangerously from Lily’s wand--Object Zero, he and the Marauders called it when it was in the air--but that was not what captured James’ attention. 

It was the fact that he and Lily were suddenly on a first-name basis. 

“The point?” he echoed innocently. “And what might that be...Lily?”

His fingers were crossed behind his back...one…two…

“Because--because--” She spluttered; three, and she hadn’t gotten angry at him using her first name. Objective one, complete. Sirius would be ecstatic, they’d been working toward this for _ years. _

“Because you could’ve _ died, _James!” Lily burst out at last, and it took all James’ considerable strength to keep from grinning like a lunatic. She cared if he died...which meant…

No, not yet. Save it, he told himself. Build to it. 

“Why, Lily,” he said, his tone so casual that Sirius would have applauded him for it. “Why do you care if I die? I thought I was--your words, not mine--an insufferable, arrogant toerag.”

“You are,” she said, her voice suddenly very cool, and James panicked; he’d said too much, Sirius always said to take it slow and smooth. “That hasn’t changed a bit. But,” she added, once again emotional, and hope rose in James’ chest, “you--you also--I--”

_ I love you, _ thought James desperately, _ please say it, please… _

“Because you’re also selfless and loyal and fearless,” she said, looking extremely annoyed about the fact. 

James tried not to look disappointed. She’d complimented him, sure, but that was hardly a declaration of love. It was more like a grudging respect, which was fantastic considering the past six years, but they were in their final year! This was _ it! _He didn’t have much time left…

““Thanks, I suppose,” James said, “but I really don’t know why--”

Lily answered the question by leaning forward and kissing him, full on the mouth.

At first James was too stunned to react--Lily had kissed him, Lily_ was _kissing him, her lips were much softer than she’d thought--and then the rational part of his brain finally woke up. 

_ What are you doing, you idiot? Your dream’s come true! _

So James kissed Lily back, feeling as if he were flying. The pinnacle of his life, the great victory of his career, had at last arrived. Voldemort could have appeared at that exact moment to kill him and he wouldn’t have cared--he’d rather die like that, really, what else was there to accomplish after this--

“A-HAAAAAA!” 

The joyous scream shocked James and Lily completely out of their moment, and they spun around. There, emerging from behind the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room, were Sirius, Remus, and Peter, all grinning like crazy. Naturally, it was Sirius who had spoken; or, rather, screamed. 

“Bloody bones, mate, you did it!” he shouted, dancing throughout the room and popping off spells from his wand as Remus and Peter followed behind, singing at the top of their lungs. “Cheers to all! Y’know, there should be a new holiday,” he said, throwing an arm around James’ shoulders. “Everyone gets a day off because Lily finally caved!”

“Pardon me,” said Lily icily, and the singing stopped. “_ Caved?” _

“Sirius, this has been great, but please shut up,” said Remus. Sirius ignored him. 

“Oh, that’s right,” he said. “In case you didn’t know, James has had a crush on you for years now, and we’ve been trying like mad to make..._ this... _ happen! And it did!” He nudged Lily, grinning conspiratorially. “And what’s even better is _ you _made the first move. Isn’t it spectacular, James? Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to be watching!” fumed James, rounding on his friend. “This was private, Sirius; private! And now the whole bloody _ school’s _going to hear about it!”

“Come on, James,” said Sirius. “They won’t hear a thing. Isn’t that right, Peter?”

“Perfectly,” said Peter, who was positively beaming. “There’s a protective charm around the entire room, this is between us.”

“Yeah,” said James, still far from ready to be forgiving. “It was supposed to be between _ us. _” He waved vigorously at the space between himself and Lily. “Us, Sirius!”

“Yeah, yeah, mate, I get it, you’re upset,” said Sirius, raising his hands in what was probably supposed to be a peaceful gesture; only he still had his wand in hand, so he accidentally knocked one of the armrests off the couch. “Oy--oy, sorry, I’ll have to explain that--”

The next jet of magic knocked over a chair, and James stared as Sirius scrambled to clean it up, wanting to laugh but still furious…then he heard a peculiar sound. 

_ Lily _was laughing.

Lily Evans, the prickly, know-it-all prefect of Gryffindor House...was _ laughing _ at _ Sirius Black. _

Maybe he was being a bit too dramatic. 

“All right,” he said with a sigh. “I forgive you, Sirius, I s’pose it was a pretty good prank.”

“Pretty good?” Sirius exclaimed, standing up. “It was brilliant!”

James glared at him. 

“Let’s, ah, let’s go out to celebrate!” he suggested instead. “To the Hog’s Head, for Lily and James!”

“For Lily and James!” echoed Remus and Peter, waving imaginary mugs of butterbeer.

Lily glanced at James with a shrug; James rolled his eyes. He loved his friends more than anyone--well, maybe now with one exception--but sometimes they could be a bit much.

“You’ll have to get used to this,” he mouthed to her. 

Lily smiled at him, the first genuine smile she’d ever given him in his life. Something fluttered in James’ stomach. 

“I’m planning on it,” she mouthed back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus ends Whumptober! This has been fun, and it was spectacularly amazing to end with this one, especially on this day.


End file.
